One Piece of The New Era
by lovisa.johansson.963
Summary: Devon never thought that he'd be asked to be the captain of a crew, but Nero D. Daeger asked him just that. Either because he was still drunk or because he really was crazy, he accepted and finally pursued his dream to become the Pirate King. Join his crew on their adventures through the Grand Line! T for blood and violence. Rival OCs accepted!
1. Chapter 1

**You must review. No really. I'm forcing you by waving my fingers spookily at the screen of my computer... I'm like Doflamingo you see... OooOOooooh~**

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**Prologue**  
_Devon and Nero the Ds_

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_Wealth, Fame, Power. The man who obtained everything in this world, the Pirate King, Monkey D. Luffy, drove countless men into the sea with his dying words.  
"You want my treasure? You can have it. Search for it! I left it all in that place..."  
You could say that things never go as the government planned. This truly is a maginficent pirate age!_

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Devon never would've suspected this would happen.

He had found his long lost brother.

Well, that was not entirely true. They weren't related by blood and neither of them had any brothers at all, at least no one known to them.

But the black-haired eightteen-year old in front of him was so alike him personalitywise that it was hard to think that they were not distantly related.

It all had begun one morning when Devon had decided to be stupid. Namely, he had decided to go and celebrate the fact that he had reached the age of nineteen by going to the bar to take his first beer. He didn't just take his first beer though, since after about a half hour he was caught up in the biggest drunken brawl East Blue had ever seen. In HanabularnaVillage, too, one of the most peaceful villages in the world.

In a way, it was completely Devon's fault, not that he'd ever admit it. If those goddamn drunkards just hadn't stepped on his toe then the fact that Devon was an angry drunk could've been revealed another day. Luckily for the guests in the bar Devon did not know how to use Haki when he was drunk - heck, he could barely use his Devil's Fruit powers when he was drunk. But even more luckily for him, he met Nero.

The brawl was reaching its climax with only three people left standing - Devon, that large muscular guy called Vinny and Nero. In his drunken state, Devon didn't realize that Nero had never been there before unlike all the other customers at the bar. Sure, a lot of them traveled and at least half of them were not inhabitants of Hanabularna Village, but they were all quite frequent guests so the next day when he did realize that he hadn't seen Nero there before he became pretty surprised.

"Ugh... my head..." Devon had groaned as he got up in a sitting position, massaging his temples viciously.

"You can throw quite the punch!" an unfamiliar yet blurrily familiar voice had praised meekly.

Devon had turned to the owner of the voice and squinted in confusion. "Who the hell are you?"

In front of him had a boy in his age stood. The boy had incredibly darkly black hair with three green (almost neon-green in the contrast of the black hair) stripes running from the edges of his bangs to the little swirl on the back of his head. He wore an open black hoodie with white pirate-pants and brown sandals. Underneath his hoodie was no shirt at all and he shamelessly revealed his muscular chest with two big, stitched together scars carving through. The scars resembled a plus and Devon noted that whoever cut it did it with great 'care' since they were so neat. As for his facial features, his face was quite normal for a boy in the age of nineteen. A woman would possibly call him 'cute' or 'handsome', but to Devon, who was honestly straight, saw him as any other man would - between the line of ugly and not-ugly. But what stood out the most on Nero's face was the fact that he only had one gleaming green eye. The other eye was covered by a headband hanging loosely on his forehead. A thin, stitched scar was running down from that headband, so Devon guessed that the right eye was long lost.

"Oh, me?" Nero had asked, proudly pointing his thumb at his chest. "I'm Nero D. Daeger! A pirate Doctor! Say, wanna be my captain?"

That was probably the weirdest question Devon had ever heard in his entire life. "Huh?"

"Oh right!" The strange teen called Nero smacked his forehead with his own palm. "I need your name first. What's your name?"

"... Devon D. Feshaku", Devon managed to stutter, still frowning in confusion at this 'Nero'.

"Oooh! D, too? Awesome! We may be related somehow!" Nero exclaimed gleefully. "Anyways, anyways, what do you say? Shall we form a pirate crew?"

You know, Devon really should've refused. But that boy, or man, had just become his comrade before he could even start his crew. He had always planned to go out to the sea, after all, but he had thought about waiting for that at least another year to train up his Busoshoku Haki a bit more, for example.

However...

Waiting was a pain in the ass.

"I might still be a bit drunk and I might regret this later", Devon began, cracking a smile, "but why the hell not? We're heading for the Grand Line in that case, just so you know."

Nero grinned widely. "I wouldn't want to go to any other place!" He reached out with his hand to help Devon up to his feet. "I'm going to become the greatest doctor this world has ever seen and the greatest explorer to ever have walked this earth. What about you?"

"Nothing much, I'm just aiming to become the Pirate King", Devon declared with a smirk. "Too much for you?"

"Nope! It's just enough", grinned Nero. "What shall your crew be called?"

"Hmm... I was thinking..." Devon paused for a moment to think. Then he grinned as well. "How about the Eclipsed Sun Pirates?"

Nero suddenly dropped his enthusiastic mood and exchanged it for a sceptical appearance with a quirked eyebrow. "Eclipsed Sun? That's so cliche. Why not Dragon Wing?"

"Cliche or not, it fits. And Dragon Wing is even more cliche. Would you rather have me name it 'Shadow Fang' or 'Devon pirates'?"

"... Let's have Eclipsed Sun. Emo."

"Dragon fanboy."

It was the oddest and most random day in Devon's entire life, but it was also probably one of his best.

That or he was just too freaking drunk to realize how freaking crazy it was.

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**Author's Note: Whoop-whoop! Finally wrote this! I've been wanting to write this for ages, but I didn't have much motivation until I pictured one of my OCs as a Shichibukai. The thought amused me so much that I finally wrote it, just to get my own take of One Piece with my own characters. I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading! Please review!**


	2. Character Reference

**AN: So, this is gonna be like a reference you can use to send a character into this story if you like ^^ Just message me it here on FF once you've filled it in and then your OC will appear sooner or later! There are some things you can leave out, but those who say (required) really are required! **

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Name (required):

Epithet:

Gender (required):

Appearance (required):

Personality (required):

Arc (required. The islands except for perhaps Thriller Bark will be the same as in the original manga, just very different stories):

Occupation (required ((marine, pirate, pirate Supernova(((must appear in Shabondy Arc first to be this))) other))))

Bounty (if pirate, required. If Supernova, must be over 100 mill):

Fighting Style (required):

Devil Fruit Power (not required, only if wanted):

Devil Fruit Power weakness (besides water, seastone and Haki. If your character has DF, required):

Devil Fruit Power Strength (not required if obvious what it is):

Devil Fruit Type (required if OC has DF):

Level of Strength (required): (examples: Level Normal Marine ((weakest)) or Level Main Villain of Arc ((the highest during the arc)) or Level Supernova ((very high, both formidable ally and enemy)) or Vice Admiral ((must be vice admiral for this position)) finally, Level Admiral. Only three can take these places. Naturally they are extremely strong, the Admirals I mean, and they usually have Devil Fruits.)))

Level of Smarts (required): (example: Level Duval ((dumbest since Luffy is at least combat-smart)) or Level Law/Crocodile ((smartest)))

Ambition/Dream:

Ally or Rival (required. Only Supernova and those who are neither pirate nor marine unless the marine is rebellious can be ally):

Plan (if Law/Crocodile-smart, they might have an evil mastermind plan. This plan must then be explained. Not required):

Possessions (required):

Name of Crew (if pirate, required):

Attacks (required):

Homeland:

History:

Haki:

Other (Jolly Roger((required)), relationships with others like my characters or your other characters, etc):

There can only be eightteen other Supernovas (yup, it's high season for pirates, you know. Poor usual people of Shabondy. Like twenty 100 mill pirates walking around, they must be scared shitless XD) and three admirals. You can only make one OC for each of these two special positions. Shichibukais, Fleet Admiral and Yonkos are already taken.

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**AN: So yeah, done did it! A reference sheet for your characters. There can only be around eightteen other Captain Supernovas (yup, it's high season for pirates, you know. Poor usual people of Shabondy. Like twenty 100 mill pirates walking around, they must be scared shitless XD) and three admirals. You can only make one OC (perhaps two if the first mate is over 100 mill too) for each of these two special positions. Shichibukais, Fleet Admiral and Yonkos are already taken. I hope you'll use it and that I'll be able to represent your OCs in the best way possible during this story! However, if you make them too strong without being Admiral, Vice Admiral or Supernova then I'll tone their strengths down, just so you know. Well, I'll see ya when I see ya, which I hope is soon! Chapter 2 should be up soon!**


	3. Chapter 1: Turning Point of Age

**AN: WWEEEEEWWW Finally got out of a temporary writeblock! First real chapter! Omgitfeelssogood XD Well, hope you enjoy and please review! (Also, villainish characters will be introduced. I couldn't really wait with them... I love 'em a bit too much...)**

Chapter 1  
Turning Point of Age

A tall (seriously tall - around 230 cm/7'6 ft), slim man wearing a long, black cape with red insides walked through the halls of the headquarters of the World Government. Marines cowered in fear and pressed themselves to the walls when they spotted him, if they didn't fall to the floor with foam coming out of their mouths first, that is. Three men surrounded the slim man, all muscular and tall and all ready to attack him if he made any indication of harming anyone or anything.

The slim man stopped outside the doors of the meeting room and glanced at the three men with a heavy sigh. "You know, you marines really suck at making someone feel welcome. How about giving me a cup of tea instead of three admirals and a dozen vice admirals pointing their guns at me?"

His comment was not very appreciated with the vice admirals standing behind the three admirals, but one of the admirals chuckled lightheartedly. "That may be true, but if you were to do something stupid, it'd be ugly. The fact that you're not even bothering to keep those marines conscious is proof enough that you're not to be taken lightly, Devourer-san."

"Tch. Don't blame me, Pishika (Pink Deer ((don't ask)))", 'Devourer-san' retorted disdainfully, running a hand through his untidy gray bangs that covered the whole right side of his face. "It's their own fault for being weak."

"That is of no matter to us", another one of the admirals, the one with an excessively long goatee, growled. "Just go inside already. This meeting is important and you're already late."

While giving goatee-admiral a none-too-polite handgesture, the slim man finally opened the doors to the meeting room and stepped inside. There, he was greeted by six familiar gazes which all turned to him the moment his foot entered the room. One of the owners of the six pairs of eyes grinned widely with an unhidden smugness shining in their only eye. "You're late again, Zane the World-Devourer. Why is that?"

"Keep your repulsive nose out of my business, Scarred Cyclops", the slim man called Zane with the epithet of World-Devourer shot back calmly. "Do that and perhaps you won't find my hand inside your heart in the next couple of seconds."

Scarred Cyclops (who wasn't even a real cyclops) Jill's grin only grew wider at that and she brushed her white, unkempt hair to the side, revealing her glowing red eye to the people around her. "That sounds romantic, Zaney. Don't tell me you've got a crush on me?"

"As childish as always... Are you really 23 years old?" Zane grumbled as he took a seat between White Raven Caito and Heart-Thief Lucien.

A gush of laughter escaped the lean man with sprawling white hair called the White Raven. "You're not much better yourself, Zane-sempai!"

Zane glared at the man through the corner of his left gray eye. White Raven Caito was probably the easiest man to get annoyed with out of all the despicable men Zane knew. Not that Caito was a that bad man - he killed, of course, but he never did it with a smile. He killed more as if it was a burden that he had to bear, but when he wasn't killing - good grief was he obnoxious. Always smiling, always laughing, always getting on people's nerves. It didn't help that he had an awesome white top-hat (matching his white sleeveless coat, white shirt, black waistcoat, white poofy pants and black boots) with a steampunk-styled clock attached to it. The clock even worked and ticked endlessly, which sort of added to the irritation Zane already felt for him. But goddamnit Zane wanted a hat like that.

"Could you keep quiet?" The Perfectionist Eliza asked in her usual incredibly soothing demeanor. Her deep blue slanted eyes seemed to bore themselves into the ones around her and the marines had to turn their faces away from her to save themselves from her fairness. She was, after all, the Snake Princess of Amazon Lily and was considered to be unrivaled in terms of beauty. With her flawless white skin, her tall yet neat figure and her long, raven hair flowing down from head to waist she seemed to be taken directly out of a fairy tale unimaginable to men. The only one that could be thought of as more beautiful was the former Snake Princess Boa Hancock. Plus, Eliza had a smaller bust and a thicker waist which was a disappointment to most men. "Especially you, Jill dear. It's not very lady-like."

"You can take your lady-likeness and stick it up your ass, Eliza", Jill snarled, giving the Snake Princess the same none-too-polite handgesture Zane had given goatee-admiral earlier. She wasn't quite as far away from the beauty that Eliza was as she made it seem, but their differences were as clear as the sky on a cloudless day. Jill's slightly tanned skin was broken and bruised at numerous places and she, as her epithet suggested, had only one eye and multiple small scars (mostly situated on her fingers and arms), the two most notable ones being the two thick ones on the left side of her mouth which forever revealed some her teeth and part of her gums. Many ends of her white hair were colored black from dried oil and she usually wore dust-covered denim overalls and a white blouse underneath. With the smell of oil and metal all over her all the time you could never forget the fact that she was the captain of the Cyborg Pirates and a skilled mechanic. What made her even less charming was the fact that she never bothered to hide the dark, gaping eyesocket where her right eye used to be and even had a pet bug living in there to eat all dirt that might come inside. A strange woman indeed.

"All of you, be silent!" the Fleet Admiral Amaku, an elderly yet muscular built man ordered as he hit his fist on the table. He ran a hand through his short graying black hair, obviously making a huge effort to stay calm. "I didn't call this meeting so you could start your endless bickering."

"But that's exactly what it is, isn't it?" Heart-Thief Lucien said (totally has a british accent), smirking as he balanced his small, trusted knife on his index finger. Zane, being the most powerful and probably the most deranged one in the room always found this particular man fascinating. Although he was frail-looking with his scrawny averagely sized figure, he was frighteningly strong. His shoulder-length hair was ginger, only a tad lighter than orange and was surprisingly tidy for someone who had spent years in a mental hospital. His skin was sickly and pale, even paler than White Raven and Cyclops' skins even though they were albinos, and deep shadows were forever digging into that sickly pale skin under his dark blue eyes. His right eyelid was lazy too, which made him look even more like a person with plenty of derangements in his mentality. Carving through the skin on his arms were dozens and dozens of scars from self-harm, as a reminder that this person was not just the insane freak you saw on the outside. "If you call us six together, you don't really expect us to kindly wait for you to announce whatever bullshit you're announcing today, do you, Amaku-san?"

"Well, I don't want to stay much longer in this disgusting place", Madness said with no trace of emotion in his voice as always. It was weird, but Madness really was his official name. Though if you're a black-haired guy who has black bandages wrapped all over his body instead of clothes like normal people and if your irises are whiter than the actual white eye with thick, black rings around themselves then maybe Madness was a fitting name. "And it won't end unless you all do as you're told. Did you really take the roles of Shichibukai and expected to act like this every single meeting?"

To the five Vice-Admirals' (who weren't used to the Warlords) relief and fascination, the other five actually fell silent. They understood that Madness was a man to be feared - after all, he used to be the 10th Division commander of the Hell-Spawn Pirates (whose captain was a Yonkou and considered to be the strongest man alive even though he was still just 39) before he became one of the Shichibukai - but they hadn't expected the others who all used to be captains of their own crews to actually listen to him. Maybe the fear of getting on the bad side of a former Hell-Spawn pirate was present even within the feared Shichibukai.

(Little did the Vice-Admirals know that they only feared Madness because he began nagging them if they didn't shut up when he asked them to and because he had a point.)

Or, well, within four of them.

The World-Devourer Zane snorted contemptuously. "What's this, Madness? When did you become such a suck-up?"

"That is enough, Zane", Amaku growled, fed up with all the childish arguing between the six Warlords. "I have to get this over with. I can feel my hair growing grayer and grayer with each second that I'm in the same room as you people."

White Raven Caito grasped his chest dramatically with a sarcastically heart-broken expression on his face. "Oh, your words hurt me so, Amaku-senpai. Shalt'nt thou treat people as thou want to be treated?"

Amaku paid him no attention and continued. "The matter is that, since last week, you are the Rokubukai (Six Warlords) rather than the Shichibukai. Do you have any explanations on why this has come to be?"

The six pirates under protection of the World Government groaned audibly in unison.

"Really? Out of all things, this is what we're going to 'discuss'?" Jill hissed, massaging her head with one hand as if it hurt. "Whatever... it's all Eliza's fault."

"I believe your accusing the wrong person, Jillian dear", Eliza responded, unfazed by the false accusation. "Everyone but me and mister Madness here had something to do with that."

Zane blinked in surprise and frowned. "Oi, I didn't do anything about that newbie who called himself a Warlord. What did I do to deserve an accusation from the Snake Princess herself?"

"Oh please, Zane, you scare away anyone with your sheer presence", Eliza smiled sweetly. "Besides, he tried to kill you in your sleep, didn't he? You must've scared him senseless when you caught him."

"I just told him to fuck off, that's all", the World-Devourer muttered. "If he can't even take that then he obviously wasn't fit to be a Warlord to begin with. Now that I think about it, I don't know what the hell happened to that guy." He looked expectantly at the others, but when no reply came he rolled his eyes and asked a question. "Well, what the hell happened to that guy?"

Amaku's gaze fell demonstratively on his fellow Warlords. "Well? Are you going to tell him 'what the hell happened to that guy'?"

Two out of six Warlords looked down at the Round Table and rubbed their elbows like children who were getting scolded.

"Mah... It was just a bit of fun..." Lucien said, the only one out of the three accused ones who still held a smirk on his face. "He was known as a feared Rookie. We just wanted to see if he lived up to his reputation, that's all. He chose to walk the path of thin lines between life and death when he bragged about his strength right in our faces."

"So we challenged him to one fight each, since he said he could take out us three effortlessly", Caito proceeded, smiling awkwardly while tapping his index fingers against each other. "He lost to all of us, though."

"And he was weak as hell, so you didn't need him anyways", Jill concluded. "So, when he ran away... we sort of killed him."

"Which was wrong", Amaku growled, futilely trying to silence Zane's cackling laughter. "Do you realize what kind of situation we're in right now?! 'Lying Puppeteer' Adrian, Dead 'The Undying' and Jay 'The Sadist' are all in contact with each other! That's three of the current Yonkou! If this turns into an alliance, we'll need seven of you! It is true that we have the advantage of Zane-"

"I don't like to be referred to as a tool, Amaku", Zane warned with such a threatening tone that the three admirals raised their hands, ready to blow his head off if he decided to do something more than a threat. Glancing the three hands pointing at him like guns, he added, "Also, get these punks out of my sight. They're annoying me."

Amaku narrowed his eyes. "Pishika, Orenjiyagi (Orange Goat), Shirotori (White Bird), get outside, please. And take the Vice-Admirals with you."

With heavy reluctancy and many glares in Zane's direction, the Admirals and Vice-Admirals left the room and Amaku alone with the six Warlords.

"There. Happy?" Amaku asked Zane, scowling bitterly.

"I'm never happy around you guys, but at least I don't feel like vomiting now so it's an improvement", the gray-haired warlord replied nonchalantly. "Proceed."

"Hrrhm. Anyways, as I was saying, you all have bounties over 400 million and Zane is obviously giving us an upper hand, as well as Madness since 'Walking Man' has been proved to be soft on even his former subordinates", the Fleet Admiral proceeded gruffly.

Madness' eyes turned to malicious slits. "I believe that's not the reason why I'm an advantage in battle."

The other five Warlords grinned in amusement simultaneously. "Ooooh, Maddy showed an emotion! Shit, Amaku, your ass is grass!"

"Keep quiet", Fleet Admiral Amaku ordered. "Yes, Madness, your abilities are indeed giving us an advantage, but that's not the point here. The point is that I need you six to prepare yourselves for this battle. Before you suggest that I send out my Admirals instead, I can't have them going off to stop the three Yonkou from meeting. That would be worrying the people and I don't want to put their lives on the line right now. What I am about to ask you is that you do not oppose them directly but at least keep them away from each other in any way you like. Sabotage their alliance, if possible. Just do something to keep those three from forming it."

"The Yonkou, huh... Or, Sankou perhaps. Rokubukai and Sankou, the world feels a little incomplete, don't you think?", Zane mumbled, his lips curling slightly upward. "It's almost like the New World's saving a seat for me, in case I'd go back to being a real pirate. But damn does that bring back memories! Wonder how Jay's doing. Last time I heard from him he said he was going to visit East Blue for some reason."

"Oh, right, your crew and the Jay's Feather Pirates used to be quite close, were you not?" Eliza realized.

"Before he left and became a dog of the Government like the rest of us, yes", Caito hummed cheerfully.

"Stop digressing from what's important here, will you?" Amaku demanded tiredly. "I'm getting a terrible headache from this. Will you accept this mission?"

"Of course we will, Amaku-san", Lucien said in a sing-song voice. "It's not like we have much of a choice. Like Raven said, we're just little dogs following our master's orders. If we don't our titles as Shichibukai will be stripped off of us. We have our reasons to keep this title even though we don't need it, so we don't want that now do we?"

His fellow Warlords murmured an agreement and rose from their seats. "Is that all?"

"Almost", the Fleet Admiral replied. He pushed up his glasses. "There is another thing I'd like you to do. You see, there's a young pirate in one of the Blues that I wouldn't want surviving long enough to reach the Grand Line. His first mate has been wanted since he was nine years old and I've deemed the young pirate himself a possible threat for ages now. His name is..."

i...i

"Captain Devoooooooonnnnnnn... I'm hungryyyyyyyyyy..." Nero complained mournfully as he hung on the railing to their boat. "Have we reached shore yet...?"

"We just reached shore", Devon replied with a laugh. "You don't pay attention to your surroundings much, do you?"

"Heh? We did? Yahoo!" Nero jumped off the boat, landed face first on the hard ground of the harbor, quickly got up to his feet with no trace of embarrassment on his grinning face and ran off into the town. "Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake~!"

Devon cocked an eyebrow in amusement and pushed his glasses into place. His first mate and doctor sure was a strange one. One moment he looked half-dead and the next he was running faster than a hare running from a wolf. Brushing his long, black bangs to the side to reveal his very lightly tanned face and gray eyes to the inhabitants of the island he followed Nero into town, looking for anyone who seemed like the piratey-type.

In other words, anyone who looked cool.

'Hmm... Let's see. For my crew, I first want a navigator. If we're going to the Grand Line, I'll need him or her to go anywhere, and a big ship. With the little boat I and Nero have we won't survive long. Question is - is there anyone on this island who has any navigator skills?' he summed up in his head. He almost bumped into a market stand and had to apologize to the owner before continuing his mental talk to himself. 'And once I have a navigator and a ship, then what will I do? I'll need a shipwright and a cook. Both me and Nero eat a lot, after all, and it's the Grand Line we're going to. The ship's gonna need a skilled shipwright. Then we can head for the Grand Line. Ah, and they all have to be strong. Really strong. Oh, we're going to be the most awesome crew to ever have sailed the Grand Line! I can't wait!'

A familiar voice ripped him out of his fantasies and threw him into the world of reality. "Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevoooooooooooooooooooooo oooon! It's an emergency! There's a crazy chick here!" Nero came running in high-speed to Devon and grabbed his captain by the collar with both of his hands and shook his captain frantically. "Crazy chick, I tell you! Crazy chick!"

Devon frowned. "A crazy chick? What do you mean by that?"

"She... She has..." Nero gasped, trying desperately to catch his breath. "She has blue hair!"

Fighting down the urge to face-palm took Devon a deep sigh and pushed the short-haired teen's hands off of him. "A chick isn't necessarily crazy because she has blue hair. You're not making any sense."

"Hey! You there with the black and green hair!" a female voice called out and Nero instantly hid behind Devon. A young woman or girl was perhaps the better term, probably in the same age as Devon himself, came running towards them with a nodachi taller than herself in her hands. Her hair was indeed blue, but that wasn't what was unusual about her hair since Devon knew plenty of people with blue hair. No, it was the style of the hair that made her stand out from the crowd. The left side of her head was shaved and on the right side clinged a dark blue, jaw-lengthed, tousled sidecut. In contrast to her pale skin and dark hair she wore a red hanging shirt and light blue trousers. She skidded to a halt by Devon and it was revealed that she was about as tall as him, give or take a centimeter.

Also her bust was averagely sized. A little smaller than that, even. Smaller than Nami's in the beginning of the series, sort of. A thicker waist, too.

Devon ignored Nero's hands gripping his shoulders tensely and held out a hand for the woman to shake. "Hello there! Sorry if my crewmate here offended you in some way. I'm Devon D. Feshaku. Nice to meet y-"

"So you really are pirates?" the young teenaged girl prompted before he could finish. She grabbed the dark red hilt to her nodachi and crouched slightly, as if she was ready to attack. "What's your business here?"

The townsfolk around them sighed tiredly when they noticed what the teen was doing. "Kira-chan, don't get into a fight already. It's only 10 AM."

The girl blushed slightly and Devon sweat-dropped. "You get into fights a lot, don't you?"

"S-Sort of..." she muttered irritably underneath her breath.

"Because she's crazy!" Nero blurted out, throwing his hands up in the air. "I told you!"

"You get into fights a lot too, hypocrite", Devon shot back. "On the way here you got into a fight with a fish because you thought it was looking at you weirdly!"

Nero pouted stubbornly. "I'm not a hypocrite. I never said I wasn't crazy..."

Devon heaved a heavy sigh and put a kinda forced smile on his lips as he looked at the girl's, probably named Kira, face. "Sorry about my doctor here. He's a bit of a nutcase. True, we are pirates but our business here is only to look for a navigator for our crew and perhaps a bigger boat. Provisions would be more than appreciated, too. We're not looking for a fight, unless you are that is."

He braced himself for the girl to shoot back "am I supposed to believe that" or something like that, but the girl relaxed and rested her nodachi on her shoulder. "Oh, I see. Fine. There aren't really any navigators around here, but I can direct you to the closest island. Come with me, I'll take you to the finest restaurant around here, you look hungry."

The two male pirates just stared at her with their mouths agape, stunned by this sudden friendliness. Nero was the first one to recover from his speechlessness. "You know, I've changed my mind about Crazy Chick. She's not Crazy Chick anymore." Tears welled up in his eyes and he fell to his knees, hugging Kira's legs tightly. "She's the best kind of person in this world has to offer! Thank you so much, Crazy Chick Who's No Longer Crazy!"

Kira, however, was utterly appalled at this. "W-What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Devon laughed. "Like I said, a nutcase!"

i...i

"Goodness was that good food!" Devon and Nero said in unison, satisfied with their meals they had gotten at the finest restaurant of the town.

The teenaged girl, proven to indeed be named Kira (to which Nero wondered once again if she was perhaps crazy since it sounded like 'killer', but everyone ignored his suspicions by now anyway), smiled in amusement at the two. "Glad you like it. Me and my brother used to run this restaurant before he went off to become a marine."

Devon nearly choked on his drink while Nero was too engulfed in drinking every bottle of sake closeby. "M-Marine?! You sure it's okay for you to let us have dinner here?"

"Of course it is. It's my restaurant now", Kira snorted. "We haven't talked to each other in years. Last I heard he was situated in Logue Town as a Captain, but that's it really. I couldn't care less, though. He's an overprotective ass."

"-hole?" Nero joked.

"True that", the blue-haired girl chuckled. "But really, what's your names? You haven't told me that yet."

A grin split through Devon's face. "I'm Devon D. Feshaku, the man who's going to become the Pirate King!"

"And I'm Nero D. Daeger, doctor and first mate of the future Pirate King", Nero stated casually with a big bottle of sake in his mouth and his right hand holding up his index and middle finger in a peace-signature.

Wincing, Kira stared wide-eyed at them as memories attacked her mind.

_A nine year old Kira glared up at the blonde-haired man standing in front of her determinedly, about to proclaim what she always proclaimed and always got laughed off at. It was a test to see if at least he would get it, if he would laugh at her too and say 'little girls can't do that' like everyone else said. Bracing herself, she inhaled deeply. "I'm going to defeat you, one day! And I WILL become the first woman to ever become the world's greatest swordsman!"_

_The blonde-haired man whistled impressedly and a teasing look entered his deep blue eyes. "Heeeh, really? You're talking real big even though you're just a little girl... Kyahahahaha! I'll look forward to it!"_

_'Just a little girl'. Younger Kira's cheeks heated up in anger and disappointment. "I'm serious, idiot!"_

_His eyes softening instantly as he realised that he had offended her, the blond man placed a hand on her head gently. "I know, Kira Missy. I'm serious too. When am I not?"_

_"You're never serious!" Kira continued to act angry, but really, she was relieved. He did believe her. He didn't laugh or brush her off like everyone else did._

_"Eh?! But I have such a badasserly serious attitude..."_

_"You smile more than Viola's baby! You smile in a very dumb way, too! You're even picking your nose right now!"_

_"Shhh! I told Reed I had stopped doing that!"_

_"Reed-san! Captain's picking his nose!"_

_"OH, you evil little tattletale brat...!"_

"Oi, Crazy Chick!"

Nero's voice dragged her out of her reminiscence and back into reality. "Hm? What?"

"You were spacing out so you didn't notice that some weird suspicious looking-guys walked in and asked for alcohol", Devon replied, pointing with his thumb at the supposedly-hoodlums.

"You're the one who owns the bar?" the supposed leader of the supposedly hoodlums asked.

Kira nodded with her friendliest and proudest smile plastered upon her face. "Correct. How may I help you, my good sir?"

"Give me and my men one bottle of sake each", the presumably leader ordered.

"Of course. That'll be nine hundred beli", Kira smiled, reaching out with her hand towards him to recieve the required money.

Instead, the barrel of a gun was pushed against her forehead and the now confirmed-to-be-hoodlums laughed. "Is a bullet enough?"

"Not even close", Kira frowned to their surprise. "I can't buy that cute purse I saw in the tailor's shop with a bullet. Are you stupid?"

The two Eclipsed Sun Pirates burst out a gush of laughter while the band of hoodlums winced. They had not expected this kind of response and the leader bared his teeth in fury. "Bitch! Don't play around with me!" His finger pulled the trigger and he surmised that the blue-haired girl's head would be blown into pieces by this, but the girl dodged and drew her nodachi. In one swift movement, the leader had gotten himself a nice, long wound across his chest.

There was a clinking sound when Kira unsheathed her blade and she looked down at the leader with a patronizing look on her face. "If there's anyone here who should stop playing around, it's you, my good sir."

While the other hoodlums were stunned, Devon had stars for eyes. "Oooooh! That was so awesome! Hey, if we wipe the floor with these guys, will you join my crew?"

Wincing and appalled, Kira stared at him. "What?"

"Well, I think you could easily handle them yourself, but still, they're such a bother", Devon explained while stopping one of the hoodlums' attacks by grabbing the hoodlum's blade without giving him as much as a glance. "So if I and Nero-"

A peaceful, drunken snoring was heard from the direction of his first mate.

"-scratch that, if I take care of these guys without harming your bar all that much, will you come with us? I promise it'll be fun!"

"Putting 'fun' aside..." Kira said, still frowning in disbelief at the black-haired teen and knocking out one of the bastards with her elbow. "... you hardly know me, and I hardly know you. I just openly announced that my brother is a marine. What if I was so low that I'd sell you out to the marines? Aren't you being overly trusting?"

Devon tilted his head to the side. "But you just let some pirates into your bar with only their word that we wouldn't do anything bad. Aren't you the overly trusting one in that case?"

Kira's cheeks tinged lightly pink when hearing this. "W-Well..."

"Besides, I don't think you'd do something like that", Devon grinned sheepishly. "You're not a bad person. So I'll take care of these guys and make you my nakama!"

Rounding her eyes, Kira watched as the fingers of his shadow changed shape into claws and his own hand was colored black and his fingers followed their shadow's suit by turning into shadowy claws as well. He raked these claws across one of the bastards' faces and knocked out another with his free hand. One of their swords was about to carve through his neck, but his neck stretched to the side in an awkward way and he stopped the sword by kicking it away with a shadow-draped foot before it reached the awkwardly stretched neck and the neck returned to its original shape. Soon, after displaying his strange ability thoroughly by beating the crap out of every single hoodlum in the bar, he brushed some dust off his red shirt and his blue jeans and turned his gray gaze to Kira with a smile on his face.

"So, you coming?"

She opened her mouth to refuse, but her mind forced a picture of a certain blond, smiling swordsman who had entrusted her the task of becoming the greatest swordsman on the seas. A blond, smiling swordsman who was the only one that had believed in her to accomplish her seemingly impossible dream. Only someone who could just as objectionlessly believe in her dream as he did was someone worthy of her blade. So instead of immediately refusing, she pointed her nodachi at him with a cold look in her eyes. "You're talking to the woman who's going to be the greatest swordsman in this world. Sure you can handle that on your crew, Pirate King?"

His smile did not fade, in fact it only grew wider and warmer. "Greatest swordsman is the least I'd expect from my nakama!"

Thus, the threatening and cold look faltered and fell from Kira's face as it was replaced with a just as warm and bright smile. "That's all I needed to hear, Captain. ... But seriously though, what the hell was that ability?"

"Ah, that's the power of the Kage Kage No Mi, the Shadow Devil's Fruit. Cool, isn't it?"

"I'd put it in the freaky category rather than cool."

"... Most people are like AAAAAAH WHAT THE HELL?! when they see this ability. Have you met Devil's Fruit users before?"

"Sort of. Jake-san was a Devil's Fruit user, but he rarely showed much of it."

"Jake-san?"

"Oh yeah, a rule for me too, in case I'm now going to be your navigator and swordsman now. Don't invade my personal space or my personal life, okay?"

"You're a navigator?! Ohmygodthat'samazing!"

"I told you earlier!"

"No you didn't."

"... I didn't? Huh... I was sure I did..."

"You're a bit on the slow side, aren't you?"

"Hrrmh..."

i...i

"Eh? Really? She's joining a pirate crew?"

The little red-headed boy nodded tiredly for the second time. "Yes, she is. Is your hearing already getting bad? You're, what, thirty-three years old? That's not good. We could have Clock checking up on you, you know, if your doctor isn't good enough."

"No thanks, I'm fine", the blond man laughed. "Thank you, Gray-Scale. And give Jillian my thanks for letting me borrow your incredible abilities. Though tell her that I am hurt that she sent - not one - but two bodyguard with you."

"It's not really that she doesn't trust you", an incredibly slim man with just-above-shoulder length hair deadpanned, glaring at the blond through ever-suspicious purple eyes. "She just doesn't trust anyone but her crew when it comes to Pet-Name-Reject. She really shouldn't trust you that much, though."

Whipping around, the red-headed twelve-year-old boy named Gray-Scale growled viciously at the slim man. "Stop calling me Pet-Name-Reject, Caine! It's not my fault she gave me that name!"

"Don't use that tone with me, red-head." If it was anyone else, it would've sounded like he accidentally made himself sound like a scolding mother, but the slim orange-head had the habit of making even the most daily line like 'nice weather' sound like a threat, and an incredibly malicious one at that. The small katanas and supremely sharp barber knives engraved into his fingers (probably by force, judging by the fact that his fingers had been literally pushed and/or mashed in to be replaced by these new, more deadly fingers) probably helped this phenomenon of maliciousness, too.

A tall and rather bulky man with short, shaggy, tangled, matted brown hair and astonishingly kind yellow eyes grabbed the blade-fingered man named Caine's shoulder surprisingly gently and shook his head. His metal jaws were created by his captain solely for the purpose of allowing him to eat again after he, long ago, unfortunately lost his real jaws. He could no longer speak and the only sound the blond-haired man had ever heard from him was the occasional sigh that he could somehow muster with his robotic nose.

Caine rolled his eyes and looked down at Gray-Scale with a disdainful, yet somehow apologetic at the same time, look in his purple orbs. The blond man suspected that even when he was apologizing, the third in command for Jillian's crew would have to show disdain at the same time. "Fine, I'm sorry Gray-Scale, I just really am surprised at how bad our dearest captain is at naming."

Gray-Scale's face instantly brightened and laughed heartily. "Yeah, she really is! ... Don't tell her I said that though."

"You really are an amusing bunch", the blond man said after observing them silently. "But really, thank you. I'm glad to know that my little future challenger is doing fine and that she's finally setting out to follow her dream. Really, thanks, Jabber, Gray-Scale." He purposely didn't add Caine in, much to the orange-head's irritation. The three pirates left and the blond man's first mate climbed (with an amount of difficulty, much to the blond's amusement) up on the roof he was sitting on.

"So, 'your little challenger' is coming about, is she?" he asked, trying to hide his humiliation by lighting a cigarr.

"Yup!" the blond beamed gleefully. "We'll meet here, as promised. I'm surprised she went out so quickly, though... I've missed her."

"I've been meaning to ask you, capt'n-"

"Reed, don't call me captain. We've known each other in like twenty years now."

"- why is she so special? You've met dozens - if not hundreds - of challengers who were grown and powerful men and women, but they could hardly lay a finger on you, let alone actually touching you with their blades. She is a nice child and you two were as close as a brother and sister, but I don't see why she of all people would be the one to beat you."

The blond was quiet for a long moment as he drank in the sight of Logue Town in front of him. On the building they were on, they had quite the view, after all. After a light-hearted sigh, he finally answered. "She's different. She doesn't want it for power and doesn't see it as an ambition. It's more of a dream. She reminds me of myself in my more innocent youth... and my idol."

His first mate puffed out a plume of smoke from his cigarr. "... Hrrm."

Throwing his head back, the blond laughed. "You knew that, didn't you?"

"Suspected it, more or less", the first mate replied. "I was just making sure it was that and not just more of your insane, sadistic stupidity because I have enough of that already."

"Insane sadistic stupidity? Oi, oi..."

"... I'm glad you're not just that, capt'n. You've been making your old sharp shooter here worry on lately."

Blue eyes watering up, the blond gave his first mate's legs a hug from his sitting position. "You're so awesome, Greedy Reedy! Capt'n loves you!"

This confession of brotherly love wasn't in the favor of his first mate, though, as he gruffly kicked his captain right in his usually flawless face (Seriously, how does a person manage to keep his face free of scars and such after being a pirate in over ten years?) and growled, "I'm being nice for once and this is what I get..."

i...i

A slender, tanned woman with sand-colored hair and eyes opened the door to the captain's quarters and poked her scowling face inside. "You wanted to see me, brother?"

"Ah, yes, welcome inside, Desert", her captain and 1st Division commander greeted cheerily with his usual small smile on his face. "How's things looking outside?"

She did as she was told and halted in front of his desk, crossing her arms across her chest and narrowing her golden eyes at him. "How you are is the better question. Have you taken your medicine?"

Her captain's ever-friendly smile dropped right away and he buried his face in his hands. "For goodness' sake, Desert, I am fine! I just have a bit of migraine, that's all, and your never-ending worry isn't helping it one bit. I've been dubbed the strongest man alive, I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself, dearest sister." 'Dearest sister' was added very quickly to show that he wasn't mad with her, though since Desert knew her brother well she knew that he never got angry.

She, however, was almost always bitter. "Doesn't matter, Dead. I'll force your medicine down your throat if I have to. You need medicine, even if it is against a minor migraine. Breathe, as much as she's an irresponsible kid who doesn't deserve the title of 3rd Division commander, will go crazy if you don't start taking care of yourself. As will all of our other siblings. Even Madness."

Dead chuckled, tugging at his sprawling gray hair. "'Madness going mad'... Good one, Alicia. I didn't know you were capable of jokes."

Desert got a foul taste in her mouth at the mentioning of the name 'Alicia'. "I thought we agreed to never call each other by those names ever again, Jordan."

"Sorry." He actually looked genuinely sorry which was rare, coming from the smiling gray-head. Usually he'd just continue to smile his little smile. Of course, Desert hated that smile, so it was good to see her brother without it for a while.

"But, that is unimportant right now", he waved off, still looking out the window emptily. "There is a more urgent matter at hands."

"You mean the possible alliance with Puppeteer and The Sadist?" Desert questioned, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "I don't see why we should bother. Why don't we cross swords with them for fun like we always do?"

"It's not that", Dead objected to Desert's surprise. "It's about this age. It's turning."

Desert frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I can feel it", the gray-head replied absently. "It's hard to explain, but something is about to change. Maybe it'll be like with Whitebeard - a war of change, or perhaps change will come floating upon a rookie's wings. Perhaps both. Perhaps something else. I don't know what it is or how it will happen, but it will definitely happen. Just a heads up."

"Maybe you should've taken on the name Madness, after all", Desert muttered, causing her brother to laugh. She let out a mere sniff of laughter, but his warning worried her all the same. Dead had a way of emitting rays of wisdom and strength which was why the other Yonkou - even the one who had left the position a while ago - respected him, not only for his strength and terrifying (or, as many would propose, "almost as traumatising as the World-Devourer") Devil's Fruit.

'Turning point', she thought distantly. 'That could mean both good and bad. The bad would be if all pirates got wiped out - well, most pirates are just wretched scum anyways, but we are far from their level. The good would be if we finally got rid of that horrible World Government and their despicable Tenryuubito. It amazes me that we haven't just gone and killed them yet. Still... The last time a new era started - because that could possibly be the turning point of age - one of the greatest pirates to have ever lived, Edward Newgate, who was also the strongest man alive back then, was killed. They say history repeats itself... If that is the case, then history will have to wait. My brother can't die. None of my siblings can.'

Of course, in that very moment, two of her beloved siblings just had to ruin her moment by crashing in through Dead's window the second time that week.

"Owww..." Cut, the commander of the 5th Division, grunted as he pulled himself into a sitting position and rubbed the bottom of his flame-resembling hair as he glared at his window-crashing companion. "See what you did now, you flaring fool?! Big brother Dead's window and wall was destroyed, again!"

"Don't try to blame this on me, you steel-brained hollow-head!" Blaze shot back, glaring daggers at his red-haired brother while trying to get out all the glass shards out of his spiky black hair. "You were the one who pushed into it when I was about to melt your ugly mug into a much better form! 'Cause, you know, it would be melt, so it would be much better form than what it has now... Well whatever! I'm going to melt your face into the ground!"

Desert had always been amazed at how alike those two were (their hot-headed temper, how they gleefully jump into unneccessary fights, their tendancy to ruin moments, etc...) and yet they never got along, no matter what. Usually, she'd give them a patronizing scolding, but the loud noise they were creating was causing more pain to their migraine plagued brother which she would not, by any circumstances, allow. So she smashed their heads together while her hands were imbued with Busoshoku Haki and sent them flying with a perfect Haki kick.

* * *

**AN: So, that was that! I really hope you enjoyed and I apologize for the long wait! Thanks so much for reading and please review! Your thoughts are like my hobby to read!**


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